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authorizing work permits for up to six years, during which time former illegal
immigrants could undergo medical tests and criminal background checks to attain
resident status and move toward citizenship.
The aim of the bill, according to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the sponsors, is to
"address the labor needs of this country" while improving enforcement of the
borders and the laws. Both are necessary.
One cannot be in favor of illegal immigration, because it is unfair to the legal
immigrant who waited in line. It is also bad for the economy, because it induces
employers to break the law and distorts wage levels of other employees. And it is
unfair to the illegal immigrant who often risks life to get here but remains
vulnerable to exploitation.
But the problem should not be overstated. The nation has dealt with illegal
residents before on many occasions --most recently in 1994 by allowing employed
people who had entered illegally to adjust their status to legal resident.
And there is little doubt that there are labor needs in this country that need
addressing. There is a shortage of truck drivers in the U.S. and a shortage of all
sorts of workers in hospitals such as nurses and clean-up staff. In many industries,
including modern warehousing, education is needed to cope with computer-rich
work environments.
Unfortunately, that shift in the nature of work has led many to believe that lesseducated immigrants are no longer what America needs. It is from such thinking
that worries arise about an "underclass."
But such logic confuses education with intelligence. The poor and under-educated
have always constituted the bulk of immigrants. They have always come for jobs
and the promise that their children will get a better education and better work than
they had.
That is as true today as it ever was. And current studies that compare educational
attainment of grandparents, parents and children confirm that the promise of life
and education in America is being fulfilled today as it always has been.
For example, James P. Smith, senior economist at Rand Corp., last year completed a
study, "Immigrants and Their Schooling," that showed Mexican immigrants
progressing in education even faster than earlier generations. "The conventional
view regarding Hispanic immigrants' ability to secure a better life for their kids and
grandkids was pessimistic," Smith wrote. But second- and third-generation Latinos
have made great strides. The "fears are unwarranted," he wrote.
The truth is, immigration to America hasn't changed much since early in the last
century, when one of the greatest sources of poor, unlettered immigrants to the
U.S. was Ireland.